Apparently attorneys for I. Scooter Libby have filed a motion with his trial Judge, Reggie Whalton, that Libby be granted bail while his appeal of his 30 month jail sentence is adjudicated.
The Next Hurrah reports that Robert Bork, Alan (torture is OK) Dershowitz, and ten other prominent and equally presumptuous attorneys, filed a motion with Judge Whalton “for leave to file brief as Amici Curiae and brief of law” on behalf of Libby’s motion for bail. (Bork, you will remember, was Nixon’s whoreson Solicitor General, who eagerly fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, after the more honorable Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy William Ruckelshaus resigned in protest rather than fire Cox.)
Judge Whalton, in granting the Amici Curiae motion, included a footnote in which he delivered some richly earned sarcasm, expressing his expectation that the “twelve prominent and distinguished” attorneys would provide similar assistance to his court in future cases involving less well-heeled defendants.
“It is an impressive show of public service when twelve prominent and distinguished current and former law professors of well-respected schools are able to amass their collective wisdom in the course of only several days to provide their legal expertise to the Court on behalf of a criminal defendant. The Court trusts that this is a reflection of these eminent academics’ willingness in the future to step to the plate and provide like assistance in cases involving any of the numerous litigants, both in this Court and throughout the courts of our nation, who lack the financial means to fully and properly articulate the merits of their legal positions even in instances where failure to do so could result in monetary penalties, incarceration, or worse. The Court will certainly not hesitate to call for such assistance from these luminaries, as necessary in the interests of justice and equity, whenever similar questions arise in the cases that come before it.”
3 Comments
June 13, 2007 at 10:01 am
Excellent invective! You don’t often read the word “whoreson” anymore. Gives it that earthy Shakespearean feel. Keep up the good work!
June 13, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thanks very much El Macho for the kind words. I’m glad you liked it. I thought it fit the hidebound Judge Bork like a condom, being the Nixon administration camp follower that he was.
June 13, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Indeed.